Tackling neglected tropical diseases through human security

Keizo Takemi is a senior fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange, serves as the Chair of the G7 2016 Global Health Working Group, and is a member of the House of Councilors of Japan’s National Diet. Mirta Roses Periago is the Director Emeritus of PAHO/WHO, sits on International Oversight Group of the Global Health Risk Framework (GHRF) Taskforce, and serves as Neglected Tropical Disease Special Envoy for the Sabin Vaccine Institute.

“Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” This Japanese proverb encapsulates the many challenges on the road to achieving human security for all—life without want, without fear, and in dignity through the fulfilment of basic needs—and emphasizes the need for creativity, flexibility, and constant innovation to achieve this broad-ranging mandate. Such a creative focus on human security and people-centred development can help fast-track efforts to build healthy, resilient communities around the world.

Discussions on health and human security have evolved over many decades, with Japan leading conversations to shape the concept. Sadako Ogata—a prominent Japanese expert—co-chaired the groundbreaking 2001 UN Commission on Human Security with Nobel Prize Laureate Amartya Sen. The UN report urged the international community to secure a healthy future for individuals and communities and to build a strong foundation to confront new threats.

Importantly, the human security framework mandates that we must apply multifaceted and participatory approaches to secure security at the individual level. Tackling threats posed by pervasive diseases in this way not only improves health, but also acts as entry point to build resilience and capacity.

Since the initial UN report was released, we have worked together over the years to link health and human security for tangible change. In 2010, a PAHO resolution on “Health, Human Security and Well-being” was approved, encouraging member states to mainstream health security into country health plans. An operational framework, “Health Security: Implications for Public Health” followed in 2012. We developed these documents by reviewing lessons learned from previous pandemics, like cholera outbreaks in Peru in the 1990s and the emergence of HIV/AIDS as a global threat to human security. Those same lessons hold true for today’s threats like Ebola and Zika.

We are excited to see Japan and PAHO pool their expertise again with a recent 2016 joint report by PAHO and the Japan Center for International Exchange, “Health, Resilience and Human Security: Moving Toward Health for All”. That expertise is being applied in our collaborative efforts: Japan, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and PAHO member states have established an undeniable track record in addressing neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)—infectious diseases of poverty that affect one in six people worldwide—through the lens of human security.

The progress of joint Chagas disease elimination projects in Central America represent an excellent example of the multisectoral approach of human security to examine and address the complex factors and determinants of endemic diseases, such as housing, water and sanitation, access to information, and education. The Chagas project was customized to meet local needs, build capacity, empower people and communities, and ultimately help them become more resilient to the threats they face on a daily basis.

When people live with the risk of slipping into a devastating illness with no hope for care or support, entire communities are held back from reaching their potential. It is urgent that we close the books on lingering health problems and build resilience by giving the next generation a world free of NTDs.

Right now, we have an immediate opportunity to do so. Trachoma and onchocerciasis are on the verge of elimination. The treatments are available free of charge thanks to donations by major pharmaceutical companies. Elimination of NTDs will be a powerful measure of success in reaching the world’s most marginalized with basic health care, providing a litmus test for universal health coverage.

At the global level, Japan has set the pace to achieve the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, with a conference on universal health coverage taking place in Tokyo two weeks before opening the G7 Presidency. In May of this year, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe pledged a $1.1 billion package for the health sector to enhance emergency response capabilities, setting the stage for people to bounce back quickly from future health threats. This announcement adds to Japan’s ongoing efforts to boost research and innovation through the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund and UNITAID. More recently, Prime Minister Abe pledged $30 billion as part of a new African partnership—investments that will tackle neglected tropical diseases and unlock new education and vocational training opportunities.

If new actors follow Japan’s lead, we can free people from despair, replacing it with hope and a vision for the future. Together, we can share knowledge and take collective action to reach NTD elimination.

It is time for individual countries and high-level partnerships to galvanize their political leadership and set the pace by making concrete commitments to control NTDs through the human security approach. We can sustain many lives beyond survival—focusing on livelihoods, wellbeing, and dignity.

Comments

As a physician specialized in nutrition in Public Health, and former PAHO/WHO staff, I have adhered to the concept of human security. Tackling the Neglected Tropical Diseases with a Human Security approach makes perfect sense, as results are showing. This will help advance universal health, with a true equity prism.

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